


Monday Morning

by norge



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 10:10:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4702169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/norge/pseuds/norge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“’M Niall,” he said, looking down at his drink. He was suddenly very aware of how he was dressed, how he was still actually damp and he felt a bit shy. “You’ve got a pretty name.” </p><p>“You’ve got a pretty face,” replied Zayn and his face flushed pink. “Uh – I mean, um –,“ He was stammering and looking at anything and anywhere but Niall, and Niall, although quite surprised himself, couldn’t help but laugh.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Monday Morning

**Author's Note:**

> Taken from the prompt, "Excuse me, but I think you're really beautiful"

It was a cold Monday morning.

Nothing particularly special, it wasn't a bad morning. But it sure as hell wasn't a good one, either. It was just really fucking cold. And Niall's subconscious thought it was a great idea to forget his jacket. You could call it a passive-aggressive, cold Monday morning.

Niall was already running late; maybe because he was still a bit drunk and he forgot to set his alarm. He didn't like the idea of partying on a Sunday evening. He wasn't that kind of person. He knew he had responsibilities as a college student that he had to attend to but of course, Louis, a young man he regretted labeling as his best friend, had different ideas. Better ideas, apparently.

_"Come on, Niall," Louis wasn't having any of it. Niall already knew this, of course, but he had his pride and a hill of essays and projects due._

_"I really can't, Lou. I'm busy, and we've got classes tomorrow," Niall said. "Hell, aren't you supposed to be busy?"_

_Louis frowned as he ran a hand through his unruly hair. "You're no fun, y'know? Why'd I even bother keeping in contact with you?"_

_"Because you love me too much and we're renting a flat together." It was obvious that Louis was impressed with Niall's improving comebacks. You could see it in his face - mixed with his mildly offended expression._

_"For real, though. Liam's gonna be there-"_

_Niall pressed his hands against his ears. "Louis, please -"_

_In the end, after a series of threats, an overuse of Liam, and a long, bordering on violent banter, Louis, as always, got Niall to do things his way._

It didn't end very well. For Niall, at least. (He went back to their flat, sad, drunk, and alone.) Louis sent him a text at four in the morning (that he thought resembled sext - or badly written porn, whichever.) saying he won't be home till after class today and he more or less got in Liam's pants and he was sure what they had wasn't just a one-time thing and you probably got the point. At least Louis gained something besides a massive fucking headache and an unfinished essay on nineteenth century feminism. He got lucky. Good for him.

A little less than half-way to his university, it began to rain. There weren't any of those light drizzles to warn you that, hey, it's actually going to rain, you might want to hurry up. It was like someone above thought it was brilliant to start pouring bucket after bucket of ice cold water on people who were late for adulthood and were sporting hangovers. Niall ran and locked himself inside a dirty telephone box. "Great day to forget my fucking jacket," he muttered, his teeth chattering because holy shit, it was cold.

He stood in there for a while, watching people run around, angry and wet, from his little phone box when he spotted a little cafe squeezed in between a Chinese restaurant and a post-office across the street. He had to squint and blink once out of confusion, and another for good measure, because he was sure the small establishment wasn't there last Friday. Niall looked down at his dripping sling-bag and back outside. Shaking his head, he thought, what the hell. He was already late. Might as well be very late and check the place out.

So he made a run for it. He was soaked once he got in the place, much like most customers who were currently inside so he wasn’t going to dwell on that. It didn't mean he was comfortable, though. But as if God finally felt bad for him, a nice employee walked his way, smiling at him and offered a big white towel, which he took gratefully. Niall had to take a moment to rub himself dry, or, as dry as he was going to get, and fuck. While doing just that, he looked around and wow, the place was actually really fucking nice. Dark wood walls and big windows, vintage-styled chairs and tables were scattered about, a few booths were in the corners, and the food shelves presented really pretty pastries and cakes and sandwiches. And it smelled like cinnamon and coffee and it was amazing.

Niall went up to the counter and was greeted by a tall boy, probably his age, smiling at him with crinkled green eyes. "Hi," he said. "Welcome, m'name's Harry. What can I get you?" Niall returned the smile with enough enthusiasm he could muster. He felt proud of himself when this guy - Harry's grin widened, showing off his nice dimples. Niall's cheeks flushed as he scanned the options quickly, deciding on a double-shot French vanilla latte. "You can go ahead and sit; I'll bring your order in a few minutes." said Harry, his shit-eating grin still present to draw in the next customer.

Sauntering towards a booth in the far back, something caught Niall's foot and he fell forward, nearly landing on his bum knee. Niall felt hot with embarrassment, despite almost freezing his ass off just moments ago. "Shit, I'm sorry. Are you alright?" a panicked voice rung in Niall's ears. He looked up to a hand in front of his face and a guilty, "Do you need help?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, s'okay," Niall took the offered hand as support to stand up. It was warm and soft, and the guy - he realized - had a gentle yet firm grip. He didn't want to let go.

"I'm really sorry; you're not hurt, are you?" It was then that Niall was able to look at the guy's face and okay. "'m okay," He all but squeaked. Because okay. The guy was beautiful. And he was looking at Niall straight in the eyes with guilt and concern written all over him. His face felt even hotter as warm brown and bright blue locked together and Niall swore he felt something twist deep in his gut.

"Okay," Neither of them realized that they just stood there; looking deep into each other's eyes, holding hands and, it was actually really cute from an outsider's perspective. It was then that the counter guy, Harry approached them with caution and his ever-so-present smile. And Niall's double-shot French vanilla latte.

"Uh, sir?" He started and the two abruptly looked at him, a bit wide-eyed and Harry felt intrusive. "I- um, uh, your latte?" He all but stammered, his cheeks turning pink. Niall yelped a small "oh" and quickly let go of the kind stranger's hand, taking the coffee from Harry shakily.

"Thanks, um."

"Okay," said Harry. And he swiftly stalked away and back to his counter.

"Um, d'you have anywhere to sit?" asked brown eyes and Niall suddenly felt bare.“Uh,” He turned to him and shrugged his shoulders, trying to appear as nonchalant as he could, red-faced and all. “I mean,” The guy scratched the back of his neck, and fuck, Niall thought that was really attractive. “I mean – like, it was my bag that like, made you trip – and, like, the least I could do is, y’know,” Niall felt bad for him. He knew the feeling; he was feeling it right now. “D’you maybe, I dunno, wanna sit with me?” He looked sheepish and embarrassed and Niall wanted to just hug the poor guy because he was being so cute and maybe kiss him on the lips and – maybe not now but, you know.

“Yeah, okay,” Niall smiled. His face seemed to light up and he grinned, his eyes crinkling and shit, if Niall found him cute before, nothing compared to how fucking adorable he looked now. Brown eyes sat down first and Niall soon followed, taking a seat in front of the other and they just stayed there for a while, awkwardly staring at each other and smiling like two love-struck thirteen-year-olds. It was when Niall took a sip out of his cup did the guy abruptly sit straighter.

“Oh, I’m sorry – I forgot to introduce myself, uh, I’m Zayn.”

“’M Niall,” he said, looking down at his drink. He was suddenly very aware of how he was dressed, how he was still actually damp and he felt a bit shy. “You’ve got a pretty name.”

“You’ve got a pretty face,” replied Zayn and his face flushed pink. “Uh – I mean, um –,“ He was stammering and looking at anything and anywhere but Niall, and Niall, although quite surprised himself, couldn’t help but laugh.

“Thanks,” he said, his gaze finally landing on Zayn again. The poor boy was still looking away in vain and Niall found him extremely enticing.

“I’m sorry for tripping you – with my bag, I left it on the floor and, um, sorry.” Mumbled Zayn, still rather embarrassed.

“It’s okay, really,” Niall shrugged. “You don’t have to apologize, m’alright.”

“I mean it, though,” said Zayn after a pause. Niall thought he was going to apologize again when Zayn seemed to have gathered enough confidence to look at Niall. “I think you’re really beautiful.” And that did it. Niall’s entire face turned pink, down to his neck. Zayn had a soft smile on his face and, while extremely flattered, Niall felt comfortable. He returned the smile shyly, blinking a few times because, shit, even his eyes felt hot. If Louis were there, he’d be laughing at how many times Niall blushed the past half-hour. He hadn’t done it so much since middle school, when this cute ginger kissed him on the cheek and all his friends teased him for almost a week.

“You have a cute dimple,” Zayn began and it went on like that. They managed to talk about a lot of things, the weather, their hometowns, families, and they found out they studied in the same university, but Zayn didn’t have class till after lunch. They talked and talked until Niall wasn’t so damp anymore, talked until his coffee went cold and after another long while of talking, they decided to go walk to campus together. And Zayn may have left too much money to pay for Niall’s coffee, and maybe it was still raining outside and Zayn only had one umbrella. Maybe that was his excuse to get Niall closer to him and maybe Niall didn’t really mind.

And maybe it wasn’t such a cold Monday morning anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> Yikes.


End file.
